Incorporating themes found in Owensboro Community and Technical College’s Common Reading for fall 2018, Kentucky poet and Owensboro native, Missy Brownson will host a presentation and signing of her debut poetry collection, “Hush Candy,” on Monday, Oct. 15 at 11 a.m. in the OCTC Chandler Conference Center.
In “Hush Candy,” Brownson revisits the genre of domestic advice manuals that were designed to guide women (especially aspiring women of the rising middle class) in their proper home and societal roles. Her response is a wicked and witty response from the perspective of a contemporary woman.
Brownson is an alumnus of Owensboro High School, a graduate of Earlham College and studied creative writing in the Murray State University Master of Fine Arts program.
“While I have lived other places, the experiences I have had and people I have met in my hometown have had the greatest impact on my writing,” Brownson said. “David ‘Bart’ Bartholomy was my first creative writing instructor; I took a summer course at Brescia when I was a young teenager that Bart led that changed my life. I was lucky enough to take creative writing courses with Bart in my early 20s and again in my early 40s. I was lucky enough to help produce the Third Tuesday Writers Coffeehouse he led for many years, which was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had.”
Brownson’s work has appeared in The Lumberyard Magazine, The Louisville Review, Open 24 Hours and The Heartland Review, where her work was awarded “finalist” and “honorable mention” designations for the 2010 Joy Bale Boone Poetry Prize. Her work has also been distributed via the email poetry service of tweetspeakpoetry.com and EveryDayPoems.
“It is such an honor to have been asked to do this reading at OCTC,” Brownson said. “I’ve enjoyed doing readings other places, but there’s something really special about coming home.”
The Chandler Conference Center is located in the Advanced Technology Center at 4800 New Hartford Road. The event is free and open to the public.
